Anyone here use a laser engraver?

[P7M13]

I hear laser engravers are on a trajectory like 3D printers - coming down in price yet also improving in capabilities.
Does anyone have / use one for personal purposes? Recommendations?

I ask for many reasons:

• I have multiple rifles with the same chambering, and do a shoulder bump for each. The chambers are not identical so I'd like to keep the brass separate. I've looked at staining the brass or electroplating it, but I don't want to do that. laser engraving on the inside of the rim would be ideal.
• A lot of my brass is wildcat converted from common brass. The headstamps are meaningless, and I'd like to be able to mark these on the inside of the rim too.
• I have ~20 AR uppers where I'd like to engrave the cartridge on the hand guard. On most of them, the barrel marking is obscured somehow. I use tags and paint markers currently, but think that's less than ideal.
• The same thing goes for the dozen or more BCGs.
• Mags - literally hundreds of them. The AR15 ones for 223/5.56 are a piece of cake. I also have mags for 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 224 Valk, 7.62 x 39, etc. Of my >50 pistol mags, Easily 30% don't have markings other than a roll mark, which tells me *nothing* about which gun or cartridge. I was looking at a dozen mags the other day and couldn't remember which pistols they went to. I figured it out, but it would be so much easier and cleaner with laser engraving, and way better than paint markers or stickers.

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[Koda]

I was curious and looked on Amazon, the cheapest ones are around $100 but have a really small work area. Prices only go up from there. They seem like it would be hard to fit over a complete rifle upper to laser the cartridge.
I have an old hand engraver from maybe the 60s I inherited. Its loud but still works. I actually use it frequently, have marked magazines with it etc. The problem with hand engravers is the writing is hand done so it looks sloppy... not anything I would use to mark a caliber on an upper, but on items where "handwriting" isnt a factor its a great way to go. New modern hand engravers on Amazon look much easier to use and many are cordless...

 

[Vernonia MW]

My experience with lasers is limited to watching one of my friends use her diode laser, operating a big boy laser at my old job, and teaching myself to use my own fiber laser.

To me, it sounds like you would be able to get away with using a diode. Which is good news, because they are so much cheaper. Normally I would just refer you to my friend, who could laser engrave a few things for you fairly cheap. But it sounds like with the amount of stuff you have,it would make sense to buy your own cheap laser.

There is a learning curve. You will need to use a software, such as Lightburn (which is apparently among the better choices for a "hobbiest"). Lightburn has great resources online to teach yourself how to use it. Then there are the burn settings to use for each material. This is really what can take some time to dial in. It's pretty daunting at first, looking at all the different settings and not knowing what each one means and how it will effect your process. But, generally speaking, you can find some good references that give starting points. And they usually work.

After that, for the type of work you are talking about, you will want some sort of fixturing. If you already have a 3d printer, this will come in handy. If not, you'll have to explore options. My fiber laser came with a built in grid plate. Basically just a series of threaded holes in a grid pattern. It has been handy. You can buy grid plates separately, but they get kind of spendy. May or may not be worth it to you.

 

[orygun]

@Vernonia MW , is that fiber laser what was used to mark the barrel on my Ruger?

 

[Vernonia MW]

@Vernonia MW , is that fiber laser what was used to mark the barrel on my Ruger?

Yes sir! I went with the fiber laser because it is able to etch away material instead of just mark it like a diode would. In the case of your barrel, I marked it before Cerakote. If I were using a diode, I would have had it Cerakoted first, and then lasered. The main downside of fiber is that you are pretty limited to what materials you can work on. Basically just metals.

 

[orygun]

Yes sir! I went with the fiber laser because it is able to etch away material instead of just mark it like a diode would. In the case of your barrel, I marked it before Cerakote. If I were using a diode, I would have had it Cerakoted first, and then lasered. The main downside of fiber is that you are pretty limited to what materials you can work on. Basically just metals.

Cool. It turned out very nice. I meant to ask earlier, but forgot.

 

[arrowshooter]

I don't know much about them, but my Son has an Xtool S1 (it is a Diode) that he uses for various wood creations and it's pretty slick. We have talked about doing caliber markings in both wood and metal since I too have multiple instances of like firearms in different calibers/chambers, but I haven't sacked up yet. Below is one test with one pass on a piece of scrap wood. Depending on the wood, multiple passes can be needed to avoid fires.

 

[orygun]

Here is Alex @Vernonia MW mark. This is before the barrel was coated.
You'll probably have to click and zoom in.